You can use the status of a project to show users in the system in what stage of development a project is found at a given time. A project can be either active or not active in Workfront, depending on what stage of development it is in. For example, when an approval is pending on the business case of a project, or when a project is considered completed or dead, the project is not considered active. If a project is currently being worked on, or has been requested, or is in the planning phase, it is considered active.

Accessing Project Statuses

As a system administrator, you can access system-level project statuses. You can edit some information about the system statuses or you can create new custom statuses. For more information about creating custom statuses or editing system statuses, see "Creating and Customizing Statuses for the Workfront Site."

To access system-level project statuses:

Click Setup in the Global Navigation Bar.

Expand Project Preferences, then click Statuses.

The default tab is the Project tab where the project statuses are listed.

Understanding System Project Statuses

There are 9 system project statuses in Workfront. As a system administrator, you can change the name of the system project statuses. You can also add new project statuses to match the needs in your organization. You cannot delete a system project status.

Changing a project status is typically a manual process. However, there are some scenarios outlined in the following list when a project status is changed automatically, depending on other factors that are happening in the system.

The following project statuses are provided with your Workfront instance:

System Project Status

When this Project Status Occurs

Actions that Happen when the Project Is in This Status

Current

This is the default status for all new projects in Workfront. As a system administrator, you can change the default status for all your new projects in the Projects area of Project Preferences.

The project is set to Current when it's being actively worked on. The project manager should turn a project to Current when the work on the project is ready to start.

The project is active, and users on the project team can see the project on their Projects lists by default, in the Projects area of Workfront. The tasks and issues that are assigned to them on the project populate their Work List. They can start accepting to work on tasks and issues and move them to their Working On list.

All notifications about timeline changes, assignments, actions needed, approvals are sent to users on the project team.

It is recommended that minimal project plan adjustments occur when a project is in this status to limit the notifications that users receive.

The timeline of the project is calculated automatically by the system, if the Update Type of the project is set to Automatic, On Change, or Automatic and On Change.

Dead

The project has not finished yet, but due to roadblocks, or scope change, the project cannot continue to be worked on and has been abandoned. The project manager changes the status to Dead to alert the users on the project team that this project will never finish and they should not be working on it anymore.

The project is not active and users on the project team cannot see the project on their Projects lists by default, in the Projects area of Workfront. The tasks and issues that are assigned to them on the project disappear from their Work List.

Approval decisions cannot be granted to tasks or issues.

Notifications about timeline changes, assignments, actions needed, approvals are not sent to users on the project team.

The timeline of the project is not calculated automatically by the system, as the project is perceived as being completed.

You can prevent users from performing certain actions when a project is marked as Dead. For more information about how to restrict actions on Dead projects, see "Life after Death."

On Hold

The project has not finished yet, but due to some delays, the project needs to be temporarily suspended. The project manager chooses to use this status to alert users in the project team to stop working on the project, at the current time.

The project is not active, and the users on the project team cannot see the project on their Projects lists by default, in the Projects area of Workfront. The tasks and issues that are assigned to them on the project disappear from their Work List.

Approval decisions cannot be granted to tasks or issues.

Notifications about timeline changes, assignments, actions needed, approvals are not sent to users on the project team.

NOTE When you place a project On Hold, the timeline of the project does not stop. The project can still show as At Risk or In Trouble even if no one is actively working on the project. Some manual adjustments of the dates of the remaining open tasks might be needed when turning the project back to Current again, so that the project can show updated progress.

Planning

The project manager chooses this status when they are still planning the timeline of the project, the assignment of the tasks, or the approvals.

As a best practice, we recommend that you set the default status for new projects in Workfront to Planning. As a system administrator, you can change the default status for all your new projects in the Projects area of Project Preferences.

The project is active and users on the project team can see the project on their Projects lists by default, in the Projects area of Workfront. The tasks and issues that are assigned to them on the project do not populate their Work List. Only Approvals and accepted work items display in the Home Work List.

The following notifications are sent:

New issue or work request on the project.

Issue or task completion.

Milestone task is completed.

The following notifications are not sent:

Changes in due dates of work items or the project.

Task or issue assignment.

Approval decisions on tasks and issues.

We recommend that all the changes that can trigger an update to the timeline of the project, or any changes to tasks and issue assignments, are made while the project is in the Planning status. This minimizes the amount of notifications users receive.

The timeline of the project is not calculated automatically by the system.

Complete

The project can be marked Complete in the following scenarios:

The project manager chooses this status manually to indicate that the project is now completed, and to inform users on the project team to stop working on the project. This happens when the Completion Mode of the project is set to Manual.

Workfront automatically marks a project as Complete when all the tasks and issues in the project are marked as Complete. This happens when the Completion Mode of the project is set to Automatic.

The following actions occur by default when the project status is set to Complete:

The project is not active any longer, and users on the project team cannot see the project on their Projects lists by default, in the Projects area of Workfront. The tasks and issues that are assigned to them on the project do not populate their Work List.

All the notifications related to the project, except for a status change notification stopped being sent to the users on the project team.

The timeline of the project is not calculated anymore by the system.

The project cannot be copied.

You can prevent users from performing additional actions when a project is marked as Complete.

For more information about how to restrict actions on projects that are marked as Complete, see "Life after Death."

Requested

The project status is automatically marked as Requested by the system, when the business case on a project request has been completed and submitted for approval. For more information about requesting a project using a business case, see "Reviewing Requested Projects."

The project is not considered active. Users on the project team cannot see the project on their Projects lists by default, in the Projects area of Workfront. The tasks and issues on the project that are assigned to them do not populate their Work List.

All the notifications related to the project, except for a status change notification are not sent to any users.

The timeline of the project is not calculated automatically by the system.

Approved

The project status is automatically marked as Approved, when the business case on a project request has been approved. For more information about requesting a project using a business case, see "Reviewing Requested Projects."

The project is considered active. Users on the project team can see the project on their Projects lists by default, in the Projects area of Workfront. The tasks and issues that are assigned to them on the project do not populate their Work List.

All the notifications related to the project, except for a status change notification are not sent to any users.

The timeline of the project is not calculated automatically by the system.

Rejected

The project status is automatically marked as Rejected, when the business case on a project request has been rejected. For more information about requesting a project using a business case, see "Reviewing Requested Projects."

The project is not considered active. Users on the project team cannot see the project on their Projects lists by default, in the Projects area of Workfront. The tasks and issues that are assigned to them on the project do not populate their Work List.

All the notifications related to the project, except for a status change notification are not sent to any users.

The timeline of the project is not calculated automatically by the system.

Idea

The project status is automatically marked as Idea, you submit a project request. For more information about requesting a project using a business case, see "Reviewing Requested Projects."

The project is not considered active. Users on the project team cannot see the project on their Projects lists by default, in the Projects area of Workfront. The tasks and issues that are assigned to them on the project do not populate their Work List.

All the notifications related to the project, except for a status change notification are not sent to any users.

The timeline of the project is not calculated automatically by the system.

NOTE The following project statuses cannot be changed to a Dead, On Hold, or Complete status:

When you create a custom project status, you must always equate the new status with an existing system status. You must understand the behavior of the system statuses to know which status is appropriate to equate your custom status with. After you have selected your equal status this selection cannot be changed. For more information about the system project statuses, see "Understanding System Default Project Statuses."

This article last updated on 2019-02-01 00:06:29 UTC

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